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Glite Dictionary
by hand

by hand

114 2.0
To do something with your hands, for example writing or making things, instead of with a machine
  • idiom
: a mano
  • She prefers to write all her notes by hand rather than typing them on a computer.
  • made by hand
  • done by hand
  • written by hand

So encoding a lot of knowledge by hand, so it feels like one.

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Examples

  • So laundry, I did my laundry by hand in a bucket.

  • All the feathers are done individually by hand.

    The Magician of Lublin (1979)

  • And they said we do it by hand and by eye, figure it out.

  • Some require you to write by hand every word another hand once wrote.

  • Now of course, you could just do that by hand yourself, it's simple enough.

  • I had to do the back half by hand.

    The Gorge (2025)

  • As you know, everything was done absolutely by hand.

    Moonraker (1979)

  • All of the crime data had to be entered by hand and checked.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Before then, the work had all been done by hand using a wheelbarrow.

    Academic text (1996)

  • She's renovating a very old house by hand so it's taking forever.

    Emily Norris

Synonyms

manually
vsby hand
75 3.5

To do a task using the hands instead of a machine

is the common plain expression for doing work without machines
with bare hands
vsby hand
65 3.5

Using only your hands and no tools or weapons

allows use of simple physical tools rather than excluding all aids

Antonyms

automatically
  • Specialized
161 3.1

Something happens by a machine or system without a person doing it

mechanically
15 3.7

In a way done by a machine or without a person doing it

How Manual

by hand
114 2.0
mechanically
15 3.7
automatically
  • Specialized
161 3.1

Surface Forms

by hand positive

Morphology

by + hand

The meaning 'manually; using your hands' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'by' (marking means/instrument) with 'hand' (the body part), so a learner who knows both words can infer the phrase. This instrumentality construction is common across languages and follows standard English patterns, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The phrase by hand comes from the clear picture of doing a task with your own hands, like writing with a pen or shaping clay, instead of using a machine. So by hand means 'manually' or 'not using machines'.